Home Health They prescribed me a common antibiotic for a mild infection and didn’t tell me the risks… now I’m going blind and disabled

They prescribed me a common antibiotic for a mild infection and didn’t tell me the risks… now I’m going blind and disabled

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Shown above one week before taking ciprofloxacin

A New England man revealed how a common antibiotic left him disabled and blind.

Mateo Rodríguez is one of tens of thousands of Americans who suffer life-changing injuries after taking a group of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones.

At age 22, he went to the doctor with a urinary tract infection, an infection of the bladder or the tubes that carry urine in the body, and was prescribed ciprofloxacin, brand name Cipro or Proquin XR.

But after taking a few pills, he began to suffer reactions that made him feel like “a bomb went off in my body.”

The blows exploded everywhere his arms, he began to suffer severe pain and had difficulty using his legs, forcing him to use braces and a wheelchair.

Rodriguez suffered what victims call “floxing,” a rare adverse reaction in which patients suffer nerve and tendon damage from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic.

The nerves in his eyes have also been partially eroded, meaning Rodriguez needs to wear special glasses to protect his eyes from further damage.

That was in September 2017. Seven years later, Rodriguez says he is doing well, but still needs a wheelchair and braces to get around.

He is also going blind, so he uses special glasses and a cane to keep from falling, he said. drug surveillance.

And after taking the medicine, it is shown that he needs to use a wheelchair and leg braces.

Mateo Rodríguez appears in the photo above a week before taking the antibiotic (left) and after taking the medication in 2019, and needs to use a wheelchair and leg braces.

However, even though he and other patients went public with similar harrowing experiences, doctors still prescribe the drug to the 2 million people who are still prescribed the drug each year.

The FDA has added three black box warnings to the drug’s prescription label since 2008, its highest warning level, and says it has received about 60,000 reports of patients who have suffered harm while taking the drug since the 1980s. .

Rodríguez, who is also trans, said she remembered that at the time she received the prescription, the pharmacist warned her about the medication, but said she would be fine because she was not over 65.

Rodriguez told Drugwatch: “I remember my exact words (to the pharmacist) were, ‘Oh yeah, I’m sure it’s very rare, so I’m not worried about it.’

“And after two weeks, I automatically started to feel like a bomb had gone off in my body.”

However, within a few days of taking the medication, the lumps on his arm were diagnosed as tendonitis, or when a tendon becomes swollen and inflamed.

And within a month, she was also diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy (where the nerves outside the brain become damaged, causing tingling, numbness and burning sensations), rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, a diagnosis of last resort for general pain in the body.

Rodriguez is raising awareness about the risks posed by ciprofloxacin. He is pictured above with Talia Smith, who also suffered a severe reaction to the antibiotic.

Rodriguez is raising awareness about the risks posed by ciprofloxacin. He is pictured above with Talia Smith, who also suffered a severe reaction to the antibiotic.

Starting in October of this year, the CDC will formally recognize fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome and issue a diagnosis code for the condition.

This means patients will finally be able to receive treatment and bill their insurers for care.

Rodríguez had to fight after the diagnosis and feel like his life had been turned upside down.

The effects of the antibiotic and his disability affected his mental health, and Rodríguez suffered psychosis (detachment from reality) and two suicide attempts.

“I had a psychotic episode where I thought the government was reading my mind,” he said.

‘I thought, well, they can’t read my brain if I stick my head in the oven and melt it. Thank God my roommate found out and I had to go to the hospital right then.

Rodriguez now found work at a home for disabled people, helping to help others find a job.

He still needs braces and a wheelchair seven years after taking the antibiotic, but on social media he is regularly shown smiling and living life to the fullest.

He also regularly posts about the risks of ciprofloxacin to warn others and on October 22 celebrated Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Awareness Day.

Mateo regularly posts photos of himself smiling on social media, although he does not expect to recover as he was before taking the antibiotic.

Mateo regularly posts photos of himself smiling on social media, although he does not expect to recover as he was before taking the antibiotic.

Doctors say ciprofloxacin can cause tendonitis because the antibiotic can interfere with the construction of collagen, a key component of tendons, and inhibit their repair. Tendons are strong, fibrous connective tissues that attach muscles to bones.

Some also suggest that the drug may damage mitochondria, reducing the amount of energy they produce and disrupting the normal functioning of cells. This may be behind the neuropathy that some patients have experienced after taking the medication.

It is unclear how many people suffer life-altering reactions like Rodriguez’s, but the UK health agency estimates that one in ten people have a reaction.

In many cases, these are mild and go away soon after someone stops the medication, with the most common being nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and rash.

But there are also rare cases of people suffering disabling reactions after using the drug.

Los Angeles physician Dr. Mark Ghalili used to prescribe the antibiotic to his patients before suffering a severe reaction, which left him struggling to walk for months.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘I used to use these antibiotics daily in hospitals and ICU (back in 2016), only later did I realize that they could have harmed patients’ health or prolonged their recovery for months.

‘Now I refuse to prescribe it. I wouldn’t prescribe it if they put a gun to my head or if someone paid me all the money in the world.

“Of all the thousands of people I have helped with fluoroquinolone toxicity, I have never seen a patient (tested to ensure their infection can be treated with these antibiotics).

Studies suggest that about one in five bacterial infections is now resistant to this antibiotic, which studies show can harm the human body.

The FDA has urged doctors not to prescribe it for general infections because of side effects, and the UK health agency has told doctors to use the drug only as a last resort.

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